Today was the first visit to our new Constant Effort ringing Site (CES) on the coast. The weather conditions didn't look terribly promising with a strong NW wind and the occasional shower. Despite the lack of any real migration and most of the resident birds incubating and not moving far, we had a decent catch of birds. The highlight was the capture of two Cetti's warblers, a new species for me. 22 birds were ringed including 2 chiffchaff, 1 willow warbler and 2 blackcaps. Hopefully numbers will improve as spring arrives.
Male Cetti's warbler
A walk around the Choseley area in the afternoon included 2 hobbies and several yellow wags but not a great deal else. The news of a female pallid harrier the had been further down the coast made me head for the reserve. If was difficult to decide where the best place was to view the bird so headed for the height of the dunes. The walk down produced a cuckoo (162) and a 1st summer little gull (163) on the fresh marsh. After an hour in the dunes and no sign of the bird I gave up.
No comments:
Post a Comment